When all is Said and Done
by yoru no ame
Summary: Tsukiko isn't about to let her brother give up his greatest source of happiness for her sake.
1. The Problem: A Missing Person

Part 1: The Problem – A Missing Person

This was not the way things were supposed to turn out. Whoever it was that had been put in charge of dishing out his fate was playing cruel tricks on him, Kazahaya was sure of it – listened to all his requests then forgot the details. Gave him what he said he wanted, but in a twisted and superficial way.

He had wanted to keep away from Kei to keep her safe. Now it was impossible to see her ever again.

He had wanted to live on his own. He hadn't expected to be living above Green Drugstore alone. Never had it crossed his mind that Rikuou would be the one to move out first.

He had wanted to end his reliance on Kakei's weird jobs. Now with Kakei and Saiga recently taken off to who knows where, Kazahaya had begun hiring himself out for his own weird jobs.

Rikuou still went with him of course. Just like his ex-roommate still came to the drugstore everyday to help him run the place during Kakei's extended absence.

Only one thing turned out the way he had thought he wanted it: his relationship with Rikuou. All he had ever really wanted from the other boy was his friendship. No matter how many times he had decried his hatred, insulted him, or pledged to reveal to the world Rikuou's true, evil nature, he had always been ready with soothing words or an apology whenever he thought Rikuou was truly angry.

Rikuou had been the first person he had been able to trust after he left home. The first person he had ever actually needed to build a relationship with – the only person apart from Kei with whom he ever shared his day-to-day life. When his mind had not been clouded with anger, he had developed a determination to find a middle ground.

Now, he had that. They didn't fight often anymore and Rikuou had let up with his teasing. It should be perfect, but it felt wrong.

Their relationship was strained. Awkward, sometime. Increasingly so of late.

It all started on that day, that one day that changed everything. The day Rikuou found Tsukiko. The day his roommate found the missing piece to his life and the day Kazahaya lost a piece of his. The day Kei sacrificed herself.

One minute Rikuou was standing between him and the one who had taken his sister. The next, it was Kei lying on the floor bleeding her life away. And what was it she had said to him then?

_Be happy._

Happy? How was he supposed to be happy when his sister was gone forever? An unwelcome voice in his head reminded him that if she had not acted as she had, it would have been Rikuou who had died. His brain supplied him with the image – Rikuou lying in a pool of his own blood. Would that have been any better? He felt guilty. He didn't want to contemplate the possibilities.

It didn't matter. He knew now that it was all the same. Knew that losing Rikuou would have been just as bad as losing his sister. He tried his best to move on, not to dwell on things he couldn't change, to do as his sister wished. It was a task that was proving to be even more difficult than he had imagined.

Tsukiko had been traumatized. She still refused to speak about the things those people had made her do. Rikuou had moved out to help her recover. He thought a return to their previous life would help bring her back to the way she had been before she was taken. And he had been right. For as horrible as things had been for her, she was a strong young woman. Once back in a safe atmosphere, she seemed to spring back to life. Rikuou still worried though. Worried about her emotional well-being. Worried about how she got on without the use of the fingers on her right hand. Worried that the same thing would happen to her again.

His fears turned out to be unjustified. Time passed. Tsukiko got back to her life. Started taking classes at a community college. Made new friends. Learned to use her left hand for everything. And nothing suspicious happened. Everyone was safe.

The apartment above the drugstore changed little. Kazahaya had taken down the curtain that divided the sleeping quarters, but hadn't removed the extra bed. The place would be empty without it there. Some nights he would stare at that empty bed until he could fall asleep. Some nights it was the staring that kept him awake.

He missed breakfast. And not because Rikuou could cook far better that he. It was the company. The arguments over the newspaper. The jabs at his culinary abilities.

How was it possible that he could spend hours with Rikuou every day and still feel completely alone? Why was it that everything had turned out so horribly?

* * *

Author's Note: I'm happy to say that you can expect frequent updates to this story. It will be posted in five parts.

Also, I have a short companion piece to this called "To Survive the Nightmare." It explains something I gloss over in this chapter.


	2. The Setup: A Pair of Conversations

Part 2: The Setup – A Pair of Conversations

The gentle knock on his door was unexpected. Kazahaya didn't usually have visitors at his apartment. Most everyone that came to see him these days did so through the business run downstairs. There was really only one person that would come to see him here.

He was measuring out water for what would be his dinner for the next three days – dehydrated soup. He was almost done but knowing he would never remember if he had left off at 1.25 or 1.5 liters, he knew he would have to start over when he returned. It was an acceptable setback. He moved the pot aside and went to greet his visitor.

When he opened the door to see not the person he had expected, but that person's sister instead, his eyes automatically moved to her side to see if Rikuou had come after all.

"He's not with me."

Was he really so obvious?

He invited her in and offered tea. While he was busy getting the drinks, Tsukiko seated herself at the kitchen table in the chair Kazahaya usually used. When he had finished with the tea, Kazahaya was forced to take Rikuou's seat. Funny, that he still thought of it that way.

No sooner had he seated himself than Tsukiko launched into what was obviously a prepared speech. "He's over protective and thinks too much." So much for pleasantries. "He's always been like that. Ever since our parents... He was only 12 then. I know he feels guilty for what happened to me. I thought that if I let him have his way for a while maybe that guilt would fade. He would see that I don't need him by my side everyday – not anymore. This isn't what he wants. Not really."

"I don't know what you mean. It's all he's ever wanted. As long as I've known him." She smiled when he said that. It only managed to make her look sad.

"It's only what he tells himself he wants. I am his sister. He is obligated to love me."

He could feel his insides curling in on themselves. "You make it sound so cold." He did not want to be talking about this with her.

"He loves you as well, you know. I knew it the very first day I met you."

"You mean how he protected me. He's always done that. He's responsible for me. Kakei made him promise."

"No, it wasn't that. I wouldn't expect you to have noticed – not with everything that happened. It was… after. When you realized what Kei had done. When you realized she was gone. The way he held you..."

"My sister had just died. He was being a good friend, that's all."

She went on as though he hadn't spoken. "You couldn't see, but I watched the two of you. I watched him. His heart was breaking for you. Sometimes I think… I wonder if he doesn't wish that it had been me instead of her – so he could bear the pain, in place of y—"

"STOP!" He lowered his voice before continuing. "Please stop. Rikuou would never... You can't compare people like that. It's horrible!"

"It is." She seemed oddly pleased at that agreement.

It was a strange conversation and he couldn't help but wonder what her objective had been. Why had she even bothered to come? He wanted to ask, but he had better manners than that.

* * *

The next morning, Tsukiko waited at the kitchen table after she finished her meal. Lately she'd started to make sure that she was done with breakfast before Rikuou came in for his. Just a subtle hint to let him know what she was thinking. Today though, she needed to tell him something important. He barely set foot into the kitchen before she began.

"You should ask him to dinner tonight." There was no need to ask to whom she was referring.

"Why tonight?"

"Does there need to be a reason?"

"He's going to ask."

"He won't ask."

"You think you know him better than I do? He's going to want a reason."

"Then just tell him the truth."

Seeming appeased, Rikuou walked out of the room, cell phone in hand, already dialing.

She could not resist finishing the thought once he had left. "Tell Kudou-kun you miss him."


	3. The Plan: A Gentle Nudge

Part 3: The Plan – A Gentle Nudge

"Why don't you come over and eat dinner here tonight?"

"With you?"

"Yeah? Why not? It won't be anything special. Noodles maybe." He decided to skip the question and go ahead with the answer. "Tsukiko thought it would be nice."

"Oh. Tsukiko."

"Yeah. Are you going to come?"

"I'm not sure. I… have some things I need to take care of here."

"We'll eat late then. Be here at seven, alright?"

"…ok."

* * *

"Where are you going?" He stood at the edge of the kitchen holding a measuring cup in one hand and a bottle of ponzu in the other. She loosely gripped the handles of a tote bag with her bad hand and left her good hand free for tasks such as opening doors.

There was a time when even such a small task as holding a bag would have been hard for her to do with that right hand. It was a little better now. She'd read up on the kinds of physical therapy exercises recommended for people with her type of injury. She worked through them at home when he wasn't around.

"To a friend's house."

"Kazahaya is coming for dinner."

"Yes, he is. And?"

"It was your idea."

"It was."

"You don't think that's rude?"

"No."

"Kazahaya is going to—"

"He's not going to say a thing about it."

"You _do_ think you know him better than I do."

"When it comes to this? Yes."

"_This_?"

"Come on, Rikuou." She changed her tone of voice. "With the way you're acting, I'd think you couldn't handle a simple dinner with a friend without me."

He sputtered for a reply before for coming up with a lame rebuttal.

She gave a soft laugh at his sad attempt to throw off the accusation of social awkwardness before ending the conversation. "Good night Rikuou. Don't wait up for me. I'll be spending the night at Misaki's."

* * *

Rikuou opened the door for his guest, then went right back to the kitchen. Kazahaya didn't want to be in the way but when he noticed no one else was around, he headed off to join his host.

A short time later, the food was ready and Tsukiko was still nowhere to be seen. Kazahaya was about to ask where she was when he realized that as long as she was safe –which she obviously was by the way Rikuou was acting – he didn't particularly care. It would just start a conversation on a topic that was virtually guaranteed to make him feel down. It wasn't that he disliked her. Not at all. She was a very kind and generous person. The problem was with her brother, or rather, her brother's behavior toward her.

There was this terrible little part of him that wanted to ask, "Why? Why her and not me?" It was completely ridiculous, but it didn't stop him from feeling it. Matters were only further complicated by what had happened with his own sister. The whole thing was a tangled mess of emotions – fear and loneliness, grief and anger, helplessness and jealousy. He forced himself to put all that out of mind and concentrate on simpler matters.

Rikuou's version of 'nothing special' was a hell of a lot better than Kazahaya's day old packet soup. He knew his diet wasn't as balanced as it should be. He'd taken to having a multivitamin every day with his morning meal.

Breakfast was usually just toast, sometimes with a hardboiled egg or two. Like the soup, they were another thing that was easy to do in batches and eat for days. It just didn't seem like it was worth the effort it took to make an actual meal if he was going to be the only one to eat it.

Today's vegetables were steamed exactly the way he liked them. Just barely underdone. Didn't Rikuou usually finish cooking them that extra minute? Kazahaya's host had gone to the extra effort to make a nice sauce for the fish and not even Kazahaya could screw up rice anymore.

There was dessert too and it wasn't chocolate; it was fruit. Tart cherries baked beneath a thin cake-like topping. Rikuou told him what it was called but it was some French recipe that was hard to pronounce and therefore hard to remember as well.

It didn't seem to have a lot of different ingredients and Rikuou said it was easy to put together but the cherries tasted fresh, not canned or frozen. And that only made things even more odd because not only are fresh, imported cherries ridiculously expensive, the cook has to pit each and every one of them by hand.

'Nothing special?' Kazahaya resisted the urge to comment. He knew it didn't mean anything. It was easier to deal with that fact when he didn't have to hear the explanation straight from Rikuou's lips.

They ate in relative quiet, conversing only on occasion about random, forgettable topics. It seemed strange – that Rikuou would go to the trouble to invite him, to have prepared such a nice meal, but that they somehow still couldn't manage to have a truly pleasant evening. It wasn't necessarily _unpleasant_, it was just… stressful somehow.

After dinner, Rikuou made the offer, "It's dark. You feel safe walking home alone?"

"I don't _need_ an escort." It was a testament to the strain that such a simple meal had put on him that he snapped that way. It was a lot milder than the kind of behavior he used to lash out with, but it was virtually unheard of these days. He reigned in his emotions quickly enough to push it off as a lack of sleep. "But… I wouldn't mind the company."

* * *

Author's Notes: With the next part we'll finally get a better look at Rikuou's side of things. With this story, I'm shooting for one post per week (which already makes this part late) but I'm going on a trip later this week so the next post might be delayed. Also, I originally said this would be 5 parts. It's now up to 7, maybe 8.


	4. The Execution

Part 4: The Execution – An Exercise in Maintaining the Status Quo

They stood at the third floor door. It was strange that this was no longer his home. That common courtesy said he needed an invitation before he could take the step over the threshold. But Kazahaya hadn't opened the door yet.

The keys were back in his pocket. The door was unlocked, but not open. He didn't even have his hand on the doorknob. They stood, facing each other on the landing outside the apartment and there was an awkwardness that was growing. Kazahaya was watching him with a particular look that was hard to place.

More often than not, when Kazahaya stares at him these days, it is with the most melancholy expression. It is a sadness seen only rarely in the days before. When Tsukiko was still missing. When Kei was still alive. Kazahaya doesn't blame him. Rikuou knows that – knows he wasn't the one to cause the girl to die. The girl who looked so much like her brother. And yet, that expression... Maybe it's just that seeing Rikuou is a reminder of that day, the worst day of his life. A reminder of what is lost.

Rikuou doesn't want to be that reminder. Occasionally he wonders if it would be better for Kazahaya if he were to stay even further away. Give the guy enough space to sort out his troubles. Maybe he wouldn't frown so much then.

He thinks about it. He thinks and makes plans but can never carry them out. It's lonely when he doesn't spend his days at the drugstore with his ex-roommate.

Sometimes, when Kazahaya's eyes are on him like this, he allows himself to think that his friend only looks so sad because he is hoping for something he doesn't expect to get. That maybe Kazahaya is looking for something more out of their relationship. But that is all just wishful thinking.

He used to tease Kazahaya about things like that. Now, every once and a while, he lets himself believe it. That all those things he used to say in joking were real. It was impossible, he knew, but for a brief instant, he believed it and it felt good.

He may know what Kazahaya was definitely _not_ thinking, but it didn't help in deciphering what he _was_ thinking. The guy wasn't as easy to read as he used to be. Maybe he is just more complex than he had been when he was 17 but there was a time when Rikuou didn't even have to hear Kazahaya's response to a situation to know what he was thinking. This wasn't at all the case anymore.

Last week, they'd been on their way to a job and the whole train ride, Kazahaya had stared at a guy sitting across from them. And it wasn't just because he was the convenient place to look. He didn't even deny that something was wrong when asked. His response had been, "That guy is our age." He didn't elaborate.

Nothing Rikuou could come up with would explain it. If this had happened _before_, he would have known. But there wasn't anything. Just a guy and his pregnant wife. What could his age have to do with it?

It wasn't as though Kazahaya was looking to get married or anything. Rikuou had been in the store about a month ago when a cute girl asked Kazahaya out. He said no, he was too busy, but while he was pretty busy, Rikuou could have handled things alone for a while. He would have done it too if Kazahaya had asked. He wouldn't have been happy about it. Probably would have spent the entire time scaring customers away with his brooding, but he would have done it.

It all added up to more of the same. Kazahaya's strange thought process was becoming more and more distant to him.

In front of him, Kazahaya shuffled his feet, looked off to the side at the neighboring building, then back at his previous target. Maybe one day a couple of years ago, if presented with this same situation, Rikuou might have went ahead and kissed him. But nothing had happened then. It only made it more difficult to make something happen now.

Kazahaya said, "Night."

No, that was ridiculous logic. If he wanted to kiss him, he should just go ahead and do it.

Kazahaya had his hand on the doorknob now. If Rikuou was going to do something, now was the time. "Kazahaya?"

But when Kazahaya turned to look at him one more time, with perfect lips and hopeful eyes, all Rikuou could say was, "Sleep well."

* * *

Author's Note: Once again, in my typical fashion, I have let months and months pass by without update. That's the way life goes sometimes, I guess. Adding insult to injury is the fact that the end of this update is a bit anti-climatic. To make up for it somewhat, I'll be posting Part 5 immediately.


	5. The Backup Plan

Part 5: The Backup Plan – A Not So Gentle Shove

Rikuou was sitting on the step at the entryway tying his shoes when Tsukiko returned the next afternoon.

"How was your dinner last night?"

He paused. There wasn't really a good word for it. Even if it was typical of the last few months, it could hardly be considered 'normal.' It wasn't 'awful.' Time with Kazahaya was never _that_ bad. 'Regretful?' Only in part.

"Fine." 'Fine' was a terrible description.

"Oh." She sounded vaguely disappointed. "I see." She was probably just tired. "But it was a great opportunity. Didn't you—"

He should have done something more. Said something, maybe... When they were so close at the end of the night, he could have at least done _something_ to show that he was reliable.

"I think you should—"

He could have touched him somehow. Not intimately. Just enough to let Kazahaya know that he cared. He could have put a hand on his arm.

"Didn't I say? I understand these things. He won't mind—"

Right, that wouldn't have been too much.

"It's not that I mean to pry. I'm only saying this because I'm worried about the two of—"

Whatever was troubling Kazahaya, he could have offered to listen. Could have promised not to laugh. Next time the opportunity came up, that's what he would do.

"So you agree then?"

"Hm?" What had she just been saying? "Sure."

"It will be wonderful. You'll see."

She came up and hugged him then. Rested her head on his chest and wrapped her arms all the way around. Somehow it felt more like she was trying to comfort him than it was that she was drawing comfort from him.

"I have to go. Kazahaya and I have a job tonight."

* * *

One week later, Rikuou arrived home from running some errands to find the door locked. When he tried to rectify the situation, he found out that although his key slid into the lock, it wouldn't turn. Tsukiko was supposed to be home. If she wasn't, he was either going to have to wait for her or he was going to have to break his own lock.

He knocked on the door.

Tsukiko was there immediately to let him in, but something was strange. Instead of, 'welcome home,' she said, "Hello, Rikuou. It is good to see you," in a warm, conversational tone. As though they didn't see each other every day anyway. As though she hadn't expected to see him today.

He passed it off quickly enough and went to his bedroom to hang up his jacket.

He walked into his room and stopped. There was nothing. The room was completely empty save for an undressed bed.

"You know what?" Tsukiko was speaking behind him. "Kudou-kun really isn't very observant lately. Maybe he's working too hard."

He turned to address her. "What are you talking about? Where's all my stuff?"

She ignored him. "All those strange men tromping around in his apartment. You'd think he'd notice something like that."

"Again, what are— Wait, 'strange men?' What did you do?"

She ignored his second question. "Mm-hmm. The big strong kind."


	6. The Reaction

Part 6: The Reaction – An Automatic Response

It was nearly two kilometers to the drugstore from Rikuou's apartment and he ran the whole way at maximum effort. People on the street gave him odd looks but he wasn't paying enough attention to notice.

He barreled through the open entrance to Green Drugstore nine minutes later and found Kazahaya seated behind the front register going though some paperwork in the absence of customers. He was uninjured and didn't look as though anything odd had happened at all.

Looking at him there, absorbed in his work, it struck Rikuou then, that at 22, Kazahaya was a bit more masculine than he was at 17, and yet somehow he was also prettier than he had been when they'd first met.

Sometimes it was hard to believe they'd only known each other for 5 years. They knew nearly everything there was to know about each other. They could even recount stories of events that happened to the other before they met. Like how Kazahaya broke his arm trying to rescue a stray cat from a tree when he was ten. Rikuou even managed to tell the story better than the person it had happened to.

On the other hand, it still felt like it was just yesterday that he had picked a strange, shivering boy out of the snow. That particular memory had only grown stronger as time passed.

Then another thought came. Kazahaya still hadn't noticed him standing there. Rikuou had to go up and slam his hand down on the counter before he was rewarded with Kazahaya's eyes on him.

"Rikuou? I thought you weren't going to be here until 2 today." He checked the clock on the wall to his right to be sure he hadn't just put his foot in his mouth – 12:18, he was safe.

"Where are your keys?"

"Huh?" Despite his confusion, Kazahaya fished his keys out of his pocket, not even bothering to ask why. "There're right here."

Rikuou snatched the keys from their owner's palm with one hand and with the other, grabbed hold of the young man's wrist. He dragged the guy out from behind the counter and outside the store. He pulled down the metal screen that was going to protect the shop while they were gone for a few minutes and locked it into place.

"What's this about?" Despite the odd behavior, Kazahaya's voice held no heat; he was merely curious.

Then Rikuou tugged on his wrist, perhaps a bit indelicately, and led him up the stairs to the apartment they used to share.

"Hey! I asked a question. Rikuou!"

He didn't have an answer to give, so Rikuou kept his mouth shut. He tested the door first to be sure that it had been locked. If Kazahaya had left it unlocked, Rikuou would have berated him right there in the open where all the neighbors could hear. It _was_ locked though and Kazahaya was spared.

It took a second to sort through to the proper key with only one free hand. When he finally found the right one, it seemed odd that it looked so worn. More worn than Rikuou's own key had been when he'd handed it back to Kakei. That was only a few months before his boss and Saiga had taken off. In Rikuou's mind, Kazahaya's key was still brand new – shiny without even a finger smudge let alone scratches. That's how it had looked when Rikuou had first given it to a stranger he'd found and agreed to care for.

"Stay behind me."

"Don't tell me what to do." Kazahaya's words were picking up a bit of bite.

Rikuou led them into the apartment slowly, wary of the "big strong men" Tsukiko had mentioned.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary in the kitchen.

They moved on to the main living area and that's where it was. That's where _everything_ was. All his things piled onto and around an unused bed. Why was that bed even still there? Kazahaya could have gotten rid of the thing and had more room for himself.

Kazahaya ventured to look around the body blocking his view. He asked his question cautiously. "Rikuou, what's this all about?" The one to which the question was directed could have almost sworn that the asker sounded hopeful, but that had to be his imagination.

"Sorry. I promise I didn't know about this. I'll get this all sorted out in a few days. I don't know what she was thinking."

"She?"

"Look, I know this is a big hassle for you. I promise, not more than a few days and then I'll be out of your hair."

"She?"

"Yeah, Tsu—"

"No, don't even say it! I don't want to hear that name." And for the first time in a long time, they argued.

"I can't say 'Tsukiko?' What's your problem?"

"My problem? My problem?! My problem is YOU! My problem is all this _stuff_," he gestured widely to take in the whole of the apartment, "and your stupid 'few days'!"

Kazahaya took off out of the apartment then. Rikuou could hear his progression as he thundered down the metal stairs to the shop below, then thundered up again to steal his keys back. Kazahaya barely even looked at him, kept his eyes focused on the ground, and went down the stairs one last time to reopen the store.


	7. The Moment of Success

Part 7: The Moment of Success – An Action Long in Coming

Rikuou turned the lock on the inside of the apartment door before following along after his former roommate. There was something weird about this.

When he found Kazahaya again, the guy was stocking shelves with aspirin. Each bottle rattled as the stocker _thunked_ it down on the shelf with far more force than was proper.

What the hell had Kazahaya so upset? Rikuou stood there a while, watching him work. He seemed to calm down after a few minutes – at least the shelf wasn't making as much noise anymore.

When Kazahaya finally spoke, it was quiet – words meant only for himself. "I'm an _idiot!" _Then hefinally ventured to look at Rikuou again and raised his voice. What he had to say didn't shed any light on his mysterious outburst. "This is what happens when I'm not around you enough to remember how much I hate you."

"What are you talking about? I'm here just about every day."

He continued on when he received no response. "I said I'm sorry. I've been kicked out of my apartment if you haven't noticed. You want me to stay somewhere else? I'll—"

"No, I don't want you to—!" He cut off what he was going to say and tried again, choosing his words more carefully. "Stay here. If you're going to find somewhere new to live, it's… it's okay if you take a little time. Until then, stay here."

Kazahaya's thought process may be something of a foreign language these days, but one thing Rikuou knew for sure hadn't changed: Kazahaya was a terrible liar. If he really didn't want Rikuou staying there, there is no way he would have been able to say that it was fine if he took his time finding an apartment of his own. It was a simple impossibility but it led to a conclusion that seemed just as impossible. Kazahaya wanted to live on his own. He'd heard those words come from his lips hundreds of times in the past. And that seemed to be the key. The only way everything could make sense. 'The past.' Things change. Could this have been one of them?

Kazahaya was standing now and before he had a chance to bend down for another handful of bottles, Rikuou made up his mind to act. This was either going to go a long way toward fixing things or it was going to be the action that broke all they had left into pieces.

* * *

This whole situation was crazy. That Tsukiko would move her brother's things out of their apartment and into his without a word to either of them… And now it would be no more than a few weeks of how it used to be and then they'd be back to _this_. Was that short amount of time enough for anything? Things had been so weird lately. Rikuou giving him sad looks like he was stopping himself from something he wanted to do… He wasn't sure he could take it much more.

Then, before he even realized what was happening, he found he just couldn't find the mental coherency to think about any of that. Rikuou was… Rikuou was kissing him, _really_ kissing him. He could feel it, not just on his lips or on his tongue. Not just in the hand at the top of his arm, at the back of his head. Not just in the shelves pressing into his spine. He could feel it though his whole body. The soles of his feet, the skin behind his ears, the pit of his stomach now a buzz with nervous excitement. It wasn't a typical vision, it wasn't a vision at all really. It didn't matter. He knew just the same. Maybe even with greater confidence. Finally understanding the emotions Rikuou held for him.

Then his legs were giving out and Rikuou was easing him safely down to the floor. "Hey are you alright? You haven't passed out in ages."

"It's okay. I'm conscious. I just wasn't expecting… Tsukiko-san said it, but I told myself it wasn't like that."

"Like what? What are you talking about? You sure you're okay?"

"That you love me."

"I love you?"

"Yeah."

Silence.

"You're not going to contradict me?"

A brief pause.

"Why would I?"

More silence.

"Hell of a way to find out."

"Being kissed isn't an acceptable way to learn that someone loves you?"

Kazahaya laughed then. It had been a long time since that sound had graced Green Drugstore. When he was finished enjoying the levity of the situation, he decided to clarify an issue. "I'm still mad at you." He was smiling when he said it.

"Fair enough."

"You know, I think Tsukiko-san planned this all out."

"You're just now figuring that out?"

"Wh—"

"After all this time, looks like you really are still an idiot."

"You can't talk about me like that! You're in love with me!"

"Doesn't speak well for me then does it. I must be losing my mind."

"Rikuou, you jerk!"

* * *

Author's Note: Ok, folks. That's the gist of it. The last part is more of a short little epilogue than anything. I'll have that up soon.


	8. The Aftermath

Part 8: The Aftermath – A Matrix for Judging Success

Tsukiko had left her apartment just behind her brother but walked at an easy pace in order to give him the time he needed to sort things out with Kudou-kun. She arrived just in time to hear Rikuou insult Kudou by taking a jab at himself. Kudou readily threw a string of insults back. "I think the two of you might scare customers away."

Rikuou laughed before answering. "That would be typical."

She furrowed her brow in contemplation – she had _never_ seen them acting this way –before things fit into place. "Ah, the fabled 'normal behavior.' I take it things went well then."

"And how would you know about that?" He asked, regarding her 'normal' reference.

"I have sources."

"You mean 'co-conspirators.'"

"Why Rikuou, whatever do you mean?" Conspire is such a negative word.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. That little scheme of yours was a bit extreme to have originated in your head."

"I _am_ sorry but we _did_ have a conversation about this."

"When?"

"You don't remember?"

"No."

"Hmm. Yes, well. You _were_ brooding rather intently at the time."

Rikuou gave her his standard 'I don't believe you' look. And though what she said was true, she knew him well enough to know he would never give in. "Maybe I had a _little_ help with certain details."

"I see. I don't really appreciated being treated like a kid you know."

"You will forgive me, I hope?"

Instead of the appropriate response, Rikuou gave her his best sulking face.

"Stop being a baby about it Rikuou." Kudou added a light jab of his elbow to Rikuou's side before addressing her. "We know you were only looking after us."

"Oh, Kudou-kun, before we move too far away from talk of 'conspirators'," her lips twisted around the word, "I nearly forgot. I'm supposed to remind you that final tax returns for the store need to be filed this month."

"I don't know why I got stuck with that job. This useless lug here would do better with the paperwork than me."

"Because you know I'm smarter?"

"Because you can only be trusted with tasks that don't require human interaction!"

"My! This bickering… Is this _really_ the way the two of you act when you're not pining away after each other?"

They looked at each other a brief second, small smiles growing on both faces, before turning their attention to the girl asking the question. The reply was in unison. "Yes."

--

Author's Note: That's it! Hope you enjoyed it.


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